Group items tagged

The government, through state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor), has signed a deal with Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) on the possible revival of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP). In a statement on Tuesday, Napocor said that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Kepco for the conduct of studies on the reactivation of the nuclear plant in Morong town of Bataan province, 150 km northwest of Manila. The memorandum does not give Kepco any preferential rights to future projects or plans that Napocor may undertake in connection with the country's only nuclear power plant.

South Korea's state-run power company has bought a 17-percent stake in a Canadian uranium producer, securing a stable source of fuel for its nuclear power plants, a report said. Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) acquired the stake from Canada's Denison Mines Corp for 68 million dollars, Yonhap news agency said. KEPCO has also signed an agreement on a strategic alliance with the Canadian company, it said. The deal will allow KEPCO to buy about 300 tons of uranium a year between 2010 and 2015, or nearly eight percent of South Korea's annual uranium consumption, it said.

"Korea Electric Power Corp., South Korea's biggest electricity provider, is in talks to buy Australian uranium assets this year to meet demand for the nuclear fuel, an executive said. "We're talking with some Australian companies, so I think we can get a result this year," Chung Jae Wan, general manager of the energy resources team at the utility known as Kepco, said in an interview today. Kepco is open to buying a stake in a project or a company, he said. South Korean uranium demand is expected to double to 8,000 metric tons a year by 2020 because of increased construction of nuclear power plants, Chung told a conference earlier in Perth. South Korea, which imports about 97 percent of its energy requirements, plans to add eight atomic plants by 2016."

State-run National Power Corp. expects Korea Electric Power Co. (Kepco) to submit as early as October this year the results of a feasibility study on the possible rehabilitation of the mothballed 630-megawatt Bataan nuclear power plant. Napocor senior vice president Pio J. Benavidez told reporters that everything was on track as the 12-member Kepco team and government representatives were already doing a system verification process, which is expected to end by September.

"-The rehabilitation of the mothballed 620-megawatt Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) may cost roughly P45 billion, according to a report submitted Friday to the state-owned National Power Corp. According to a government official privy to the matter, the BNPP rehabilitation cost report was submitted by Korea Electric Power Co. (Kepco), as part of a feasibility study it had conducted on the nuclear facility."

A crack found in a nuclear reactor's primary coolant pipe here is at least five times deeper than originally believed, and experts say if it widens it could cause a serious accident. The crack was found on the inside of a weld in the primary cooling water pipe during an inspection on the No. 3 reactor at Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) Oi Nuclear Power Plant in early April. Engineers initially believed it was less than 3 millimeters deep, but later realized that it was over 15 millimeters deep. The pipe walls are 74.6 millimeters thick.

South Korea has taken the lead in talks to sell Jordan a nuclear power plant through a private deal without a formal bidding process, which would be its first such export deal, local media reported on Wednesday citing a top executive. "Jordan's No.1 nuclear power plant (project) is leaning towards a private deal with South Korea without a public bid," Kim Ssang-soo, the chief executive officer of state-run Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO) (015760.KS), was quoted as saying during his trip to Amman.

"Taxpayers would have to cough up another billion dollars to rehabilitate the mothballed Bataan nuclear power plant, according to a study commissioned by the government. The Marcos regime spent about $2.10 billion for the construction of the power plant, with successive governments setting aside P40 million a year for its maintenance even though the facility has yet to generate a single watt of electricity. Opposition from various environmental and cause-oriented groups led the Aquino administration to mothball the Philippines' lone nuclear facility in 1986. Froilan Tampinco, National Power Cor p. (Napocor) president, said that Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) has submitted its study on how much it would cost to run the facility."

"A barrage of domestic news reports have highlighted the Dec. 27 Korea-United Arab Emirates (UAE) contract, pointing out that a Korean consortium is scheduled to design, build and operate nuclear power plants for the Middle East country's energy program for the next 60 years. As the first case of Korea's export of nuclear technology, there is no doubt that the multibillion-dollar contract is a major economic, technological and diplomatic achievement for the country, which built its first commercial nuclear plant in 1978. However, a closer look at foreign media reports, including those from the UAE, indicates that the deal is not as lucrative as projected by the domestic reports. One of the most glaring discrepancies between domestic and foreign reports is the exact size of the contract procured by the Korean consortium - led by the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) - to provide four APR1400, a Korean-made nuclear power unit that has yet to make a domestic debut. Following a decision that selected Korea over France as the winner of the largest-ever energy deal awarded in the Middle East, the Emirates News Agency reported that "the value of the contract for the construction, commissioning and fuel loads for four units equaled approximately $20 billion, with a high percentage of the contract being offered under a fixed-price arrangement.""

"The state power companies of South Korea and Turkey signed a preliminary deal here Wednesday aimed at building a nuclear power plant in northern Turkey. Under the deal, the companies will carry out preliminary work and "if a common ground with mutually acceptable conditions emerges, the main agreement between the two governments will be signed", Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. The protocol was inked by officials from EUAS of Turkey and Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO), which in December won a contract to build four nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates as part of an international consortium."

Tokyo Electric Power Co. will seek a ban on the operation of its quake-damaged nuclear plant lifted, paving the way for a test run when it completes repairs of one of the reactors next month. "We will ask the local fire department to check our facility," President Masataka Shimizu told reporters today. Tepco will fix a turbine in early February, the final repair on the No. 7 reactor at its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant, he said. Six other reactors are still being worked on. The Kashiwazaki Fire Department imposed the ban after a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the plant on July 16, 2007, causing a fire and radiation leaks. Shimizu said he doesn't know when he can resume output at Kashiwazaki Kariwa, the world's biggest nuclear plant.

Japan's nuclear safety agency gave the green light to Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) (9501.T) to restart its No. 7 nuclear generator at the quake-hit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, Kyodo news said on Friday, citing government officials. The officials said that after examining TEPCO's plan and inspection data, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has concluded the reactor is clear for a test run, Kyodo reported.